The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NIALS

Law and transformation: NIALS forensic empiricism and legal pragmatism

Text of the lecture delivered by Prof. Epiphany Azinge (SAN) on the eve of his bowing out of office as the Director-General of NIALS.

The research was executed using the following customised terms of reference;

(1) The Rules of Court dealings with costs (particularly the Lagos state (civil procedure) rules 2012 which is applicable to Lagos and the High court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja (civil procedure) Rules 2004 which is similar to the rules applicable to High Courts of other states of the federation.

(2) Judicial approach to the award of costs with specific reference to the nature of the awards, where made

(3) Effects of frequent adjournments on the speedy disposal of cases

(4) Establishing a nexus between repeated requests for adjournments, non-deterrent costs awards and the delays experienced in the administration of justice.

(5) The propriety or otherwise of entrenching a punitive costs system in Nigeria.

Empirical research methods deployed by NIALS were both qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative research methods enabled us to gather qualitative data drawn from observations, interviews of stakeholders, documentary evidence and evaluation of data using data analysis method. Qualitative method on the other hand enabled us to collect numerical data and with the use of statistical methods analyse information collated.

Surveys were conducted in four geo-political zones of the country. Legal practitioners and litigants formed the basis of the survey in the geopolitical zones. We were also privileged to use electronic on-line survey methodology to gather data for the research. On the whole, NIALS is pleased with the thought provoking and constructive responses received from those surveyed and the positive reactions of those who have read the research findings. But more significantly, is the appreciation of the depth and breath of scholarship which made it possible for us to ingenuously develop the research methodology that is uniquely NIALS and built around NIALS philosophy of law, This empirical research is a tribute to NIALS scholars and their determination to break new

Grounds in Legal Scholarship Towards a hybrid between adversarial and inquisitorial adjudication machanisms

NIALS’ robust engagement with both substantive and adjectival law has prompted the decision to interrogate deeper the adversarial system of dispute resolution which Nigeria received from the English legal system. The view clearly was that after over a century of its application, it is manifestly obvious that adversarial system is largely flawed and therefore cannot continue to be used in its present form. The option also is not a wholesale adoption of the inquisitorial system. After a detailed study of the two systems, NIALS came to the inescapable conclusion that a well-articulated hybrid between the two systems would suffice. This involved tapping from the merits of the two systems while carefully avoiding their shortfalls.

In the course of the project, the Institute carried out a robust desk review to interrogate the available literature on the subject and embarked on field research to five geopolitical zones of the country where opinions of serving Judges of the High Court, law lecturers from faculties of law in various Nigerian universities, lecturers from Nigerian Law School and private legal practitioners were sought and received. Majority of the opinions were in favour of repositioning the Nigerian system of justice administration to encourage truth finding and reduce lengthy court cases.

Invoking the highest form of legal dexterity and conscious of its philosophy of legal scholarship, the project produced what is widely acclaimed as the most innovative and original contribution to the justice delivery system in contemporary times. This remains an enduring tribute to NIALS adherence to forensic empiricism

Laws in force in Nigeria: Relevance and functionality.

Another giant accomplishment in the realm of legal scholarship is NIALS’ ambitious project which set out to examine all legislations in force in Nigeria with a view to determine the relevance and /or functionality of each enactment.

The project used as its template the 2010 edition of laws of the federation of Nigeria In an effort to bring the project as up to date as possible, all the available laws made between 2011 and 2013 were also incorporated. The research found that indeed, there are many laws in our statute books that are not meeting the objective for which they were made. It also found that there are series of laws with similar objectives, often creating similar offences or establishing parallel bodies to address similar issues. It equally discovered that there are several laws that though relevant, are not functional, often due to gaps in the laws themselves or lack of serious efforts at implementing them.

As a way forward, our research highlights laws to be repealed, those that need to be merged or consolidated or expired . Laws that should be deleted from the Statute Books, relevant but non-functional laws as well as those that require amendment. It proffers reasons for each of these categorization , highlights gaps and suggests necessary amendments and other steps towards making our laws more relevant and functional. It is undoubtedly a unique research work which NIALS, in furtherance of its mandate as the apex institution for research and advanced studies in law, has sought to enrich knowledge in its core competence area of legislative drafting.

Unification of criminal and penal laws in Nigeria

In the last 35 years, Lawyers and jurists have toyed with the idea of harmonizing both the criminal and penal laws of Nigeria. Arguments have been advanced on the merits of unifying both laws. The Institute shares that position. Indeed the position of NIALS is that in spite of the diverse cultures and belief systems that exists between North and south, the harmonization of criminal LAWS IN Nigeria is not only desirable but also achievable. Flowing from this standpoint, NIALS decided to engage on the project of not only identifying the commonalities but also to produce a draft unified law.

June 17, 2014
Law and transformation: NIALS forensic empiricism and legal pragmatism

Text of the lecture delivered by Prof. Epiphany Azinge (SAN) on the eve of his bowing out of office as the Director-General of NIALS.

NIALS have contributed to this process by producing two major books to guide the law makers. The first titled “Legislative Drafting and Transformative laws”5 is easily the most authoritative scholarly work on the subject. In addressing critical issues like Transformative legislation and public interest promotion, legislating for institutional transformation; legislative methodology in developing economies, policy legislation and national transformation towards transformation evidence-based legislation; legislative efficiency and democratic change, the book confronts all agents of transformation agenda with enough information for effective and transformative legislation.

But over and above all, the book exhaustively examined Cost-Benefit Analysis of Legislation. It posits that there are no formal indications that a systematic cost benefit analysis is conducted by the legislature in Nigeria. It is argued that the well-farist tenets of the constitution, by implication, demands that a cost benefit analysis is conducted to determine if a legislative project is a sound one.

The second NIALS book project that clearly endorses transformative laws is titled “Legislating for Good Governance”6. Issues like “Legislation and Economic Prosperity; Perspectives on Administration of Criminal Justice Bill

For Nigeria, Good Governance and poverty reduction: The legislative Agenda “ Taxation Law and Good Governance; and Human Rights Legislations and Good Governance, are critically examined as ingredients for achieving good governance and national transformation.

NIALS followed up with effective participation in public hearing in most of the bills that are tangentially relevant for the transformation process. Specific mention must be made of Electoral Act Amendment Bills. Same Sex marriage bills, terrorism prevention bills, Freedom of Information Bill, Discriminating Against Persons with Disability Bill, NDDC Appropriation Bill, Personal Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, Pension Reform Bill, National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Bill, Fiscal Responsibility Commission Bill, Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Bill

What this means is that legal scholarship in NIALS recognises the critical role of law as an instrument of national transformation and keys into that vision by diligently researching emerging areas of law, engaging in comparative studies and more importantly advising on cost-benefit analysis as it relates to legislative process.

As is common knowledge, Legislative Drafting is NIALS major area of expertise. Drawing from the skills of its faculty, NIALS in the last five years have drafted the following bills in its effort to draw attention to bills that may well be considered as transformative. They are as follows: Compensation Of Victims Of Road Accident Bill, Enforcement Of Education Of Children And Young Persons Bill, Destitute Protection Bill, Rehabilitation Of Widows And Protection From Exploitative Cultural Practices Bill, Protection Of Employees From Unfair Treatment Bill, And Parental Rights And Child Control Bill

From the perspective of doctrinaire research, NIALS have also impacted positively on the Law/Transformation correlation by the depth and breath of legal scholarship that have charted new course as far as jurisprudence is concerned and made original contribution to knowledge. The seminal works in question include: Competition Law and Policy in Nigeria, (2012),7 Deregulation: Law, Economics and Politics (2012)8, Intellectual Property And Development: Perspectives Of African Countries, (2013), Judicial Reform And Transformation In Nigeria, (2012)9, Freedom Of Information Law And Regulation In Nigeria, (2013)10, Plea Bargaining In Nigeria, (2012),11 Law Of Domestic Violence In Nigeria, (2012)12,

Legal Regime Of Free Trade Zones, (2013)13, NIALS Dictionary Of African Customary Laws (2013)14, NIALS Journal Of Health Law And Policy, (2013)15, Corporate Governance And Responsibility, (2014)16, State Of Emergency In Nigeria: Law And Politics, (2013)17, Code Of Good Governance (2013)18, NIALS Supreme Court Review, 2011, 2012,2013,201419, Legal Empiricism and Writing Skills, (2014)20, Mutual Legal Assistance (2014)21, Nuclear Law, Policy And Regulation (2014)22, Annotation Of Evidence Act, (2014)23, Annotation Of Electoral Act (2014)24, Annotation Of Company And Allied Matters Act, (2014)25, Law Of Wars And Use Of Force (2014)26, Nigeria: A Century Of Constitutional Evolution 1914-2014, (2013),27 Money Laundering , Law And Policy (2014)28.

Forensic empiricism: The nials approach

Legal scholarships in the past five centuries have focused more on doctrinaire research and philosophical postulations. Jurists and legal scholars have never bothered to grapple with socio-legal research. This was generally considered the exclusive preserve of social scientist. The challenge for legal scholars is obvious lack of skilled expertise for analysis of data collated. This glaring deficiency has remained the major obstacle militating against the involvement of legal scholars in socio-legal research. In the last five years, NIALS through its strategic action plan made empirical studies the foundation of its research activities. The thesis is that NIALS cannot claim to be the apex institution for research in law and related discipline without adequate capacity to engage in socio-legal research. Furthermore as an Institute dedicated to policy formulation, it is indisputable that the integrity of NIALS research findings can only be anchored on empirical data flowing from socio legal research.

Consequently, NIALS have perfected its socio-legal research and have progressed to build capacity of Research Fellows to the extent that most of them can conveniently be referred to as legal statisticians.

What I propose to examine henceforth are specific socio-legal researches conducted by the Institute in the last five years. In this regard, emphasis will be on findings, deductions and impacts of such study. I also propose to highlight the emerging jurisprudence from forensic empiricism of NIALS socio-legal research and finally underscore NIALS major contribution to legal research in Nigeria and the new philosophy of Law inextricably intertwined with evidence-based research.

Nigeria’s judicial performance evaluation 2008-201129

This empirical study of judicial performance over a period of four years will go down in history as the most expansive and intricate socio-legal analysis ever conducted by the Institute. That we deployed over 30 Research Fellows to grapple with the project over a period of 3 years is a clear indication of the massive undertaking that confronted NIALS. Altogether NIALS produced 7 volume report each spanning 1,000 pages. Each state judiciary was analysis against the background of returns per year of each judge. The data collected per year covered the four quarters of the year and the analysis was compartmentalized between civil and criminal cases. This presented a summary of case distribution and disposal in all state High Court jurisdictions. With the support of charts and graphs, our legal statisticians presented a flawless, compelling and incontrovertible data on judicial performance in all courts of superior of record in Nigeria between 2008-2011. This research project was handed over to the incumbent Chief Justice of Nigeria in a well documented ceremony wherein she made her now famous statement that any judge that fails to deliver 4 judgments in a year will be shown the way out.

This 7,000 pages project is now a reference point in evaluation of judicial performance in Nigeria and its impact on quick dispensation of justice in Nigeria cannot be overemphasised. Credit goes to NIALS philosophy and belief in forensic empiricism.

Restatment of Customary Law30

Nials research work on restatement of customary law of nigeria will go down in history as the most authoritative restatement exercise in africa. Indeed it has redefined the concept and nature of Customary Law Article 1-69 of the Restatement has provided an escape from proof of customary law.

The project is a culmination of four years of massive research undertaking involving desk review; field research covering four geo-political zones in Nigeria, collation and analysis of field research findings; testing of field research findings in a stakeholders consultative conference, further desk review to fill in gaps in the literature, and the core restatement work by a select committee of reporters.

The idea of a restatement is to identify common principles or trends in a particular area of law with the objective of unifying the further development of the law. It is not a codification of law although it reads like one. The project set out to establish the common law of Nigeria’s customary jurisprudence by identifying commonalities in customary practices in four thematic areas: Chieftaincy/Traditional Institutions; inheritance/succession; Land; and Marriage.

The mandate of the committee of reporters in each of the thematic areas was to distil through a massive welter of research findings in the desk reviews and field work and identify what represented commonalities across the four geo-political zones in each of the thematic areas of the research.

By and large, the restatement work represents a major contribution to legal scholarship in this area.

It is also a testament of NIALS commitment to empirical socio legal research as a vehicle for enduring contribution to the development of law.

Traditional administration of justice in Nigeria31

Tangentially related to the field work on Restatement of customary law is the equally engaging interrogation of traditional administration of justice in Nigeria. This is another research undertaking that was designed to produce authoritative and empirical research findings that can be considered as flawless.

Although the traditional justice system does not form part of the Nigerian legal system, it however continues to gain momentum in all parts of Nigeria in terms of traditional dispute resolution and resolution of conflict especially within the rural areas. The research undertakings by NIALS which was a field research was carried out throughout the country. It explored the laws administered in the traditional system, the courts and mechanisms in place for adjudication and enforcement. Also frequency of cases handled was explored as well as the time frame in which disputes are resolved in the traditional justice system.

The project identifies the high merits as well as the shortcomings of the traditional justice system. It recommends among others that the traditional justice system be streamlined into the Nigerian legal system by the means of legislation as is done in some African countries.

Political financing and expenditure ceiling for 2011 election32

An aspect of the electoral process which is crucial and an area of likely violation or manipulation is the aspect of political financing and election expenditure. This spans the whole gamut from fund raising to the expenditure returns political parties are expected to make to the electoral body before and after an election.

Conscious of this and determined to strengthen the Nigerian Democratic process for sustainable growth and development , NIALS embarked on a research for stocktaking of the 2011 election – the research project was preceded by a literature review designed to do a comparative analysis of other jurisdictions which will give insight into what transpires in those jurisdictions. The jurisdictions examined include United States of America, United Kingdom, Canada and Ghana. The field research work covered FCT(Abuja) North-Central, Plateau North Central, Borno Maiduguri, North- East, Kebbi (Birni Kebbi) North West, Lagos -South West, Enugu South West; and Rivers South South.

The research work did not only look at the expenditure from the point of view of stakeholders, it also looked at it from the vintage point of the electorate on their opinion about how much was spent during the 2011 elections, some quoted figures ranging from millions to over a trillion. Others were of the opinion that it is difficult to estimate due to lack proper accounting by political parties and candidates.

Generally there was a consensus that political financing poses a danger of long term systematic corruption, undermines accountability and hinders the democratic process. Unregulated political money can influence the results of running for an office and can make political parties or candidates to accept money from unacceptable sources.

The role of costs and adjournments in expeditious dispensation of justice33

In our attempt to address delay in administration of justice, NIALS initiated a research project on the effect of award of costs and unnecessary adjournments in the expeditious dispensation of justice in the Nigerian Courts. Our methodology was to determine whether there was indeed a visible link between routine grant of adjournments and non deterrent cost awards on one hand and the slow disposal of cases in the Nigerian courts on the other. If yes, would a punitive cost system be the long awaited solution?

June 10, 2014
Law and transformation: NIALS forensic empiricism and legal pragmatism

Text of the lecture delivered by Prof. Epiphany Azinge (SAN) on the eve of his bowing out of office as the Director-General of NIALS.

In exactly 96 hours from today, I will be vacating my position as Director- General of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. Under my watch, many lectures series have been established and they have provided platform for robust scholarly engagement. Ironically, I have been unable to utilise the platform to articulate my thoughts on critical issues which have characterised my leadership of the Institute. The state of the iInstitute Lecture is therefore the latest addition to NIALS Lecture Series. It is a platform for me as an outgoing Director-General to highlight clear-cut legal methodology that emerged in researches conducted under my watch. The essence of the Lecture therefore is to locate it against the backdrop of findings of sociological researches by the Institute and their relevance to the transformation of our system. This is keeping in mind that my tenure as Director-General coincided with the emergence of President Goodluck Jonathan whose policy thrust is anchored on the mantra of transformation agenda. The State of the Institute Lecture is therefore not a mere presentation of the scorecard of the Institute under my watch. It is an intellectual exercise that finds expression in pragmatic scholarship that is supported by empirical research as opposed to mere doctrinaire postulation. The lecture titled “ Law and transformation: NIALS forensic empiricism and legal pragmatism” is an attempt to chronicle new frontiers of legal scholarship that has since emerged from the institute, this includes theories, principles, doctrines and jurisprudential postulations. It is also an opportunity to assess the impact of strategic vision of the institute under my watch. Here we will evaluate the impact of our roundtables and communiqués flowing there from; our policy dialogues, public lectures and conversations; relevance of our leading peer reviewed specialised journals and book publications; our innovative programmes for aspiring judges and public policy analysis and experts; modified programmes for paralegal officers in our continuing legal education: our PhD programme in Legislative Drafting; our agenda setting programme and draft of bills to address critical sectors of our national life, ranking of law faculties; conferment of Fellowships and admission into NIALS Hall of Fame, community service that finds expression in Public Service Award and support to secondary Institutions, establishment of endowment of Professorial Chairs and more significantly, the integrity of being acknowledged as Nigeria’s law abode. The thrust of my Lecture is to posit that NIALS has successfully influenced the future of legal scholarship and this is manifestly evident from distillations from scholarly contributions from NIALS. This is predicated on the premise of NIALS’ intimidating faculty and their contribution to legal scholarship in the last five years.

I shall therefore proceed to examine all the issues highlighted and make a strong case for recognition and appreciation of NIALS overwhelming contribution to the growth and development of legal scholarship in the last five years.

Conceptual framework and terminological clarification

This paper will interrogate exhaustively the law and social change correlation. Here the emphasis will be on how well NIALS has used legal research and legal scholarship generally as an instrument of social change. Also the fundamental question will be; has the totality of academic scholarship in NIALS in the years under review been predicated or premised on the notion that the critical essence of law is to impact positively on society? And if the answer to this is in the affirmative, this lecture will seek to confirm if this objective was undoubtedly achieved.As earlier indicated, it is crucial to examine how legal scholarship in NIALS has been shaped by the transformation agenda of government. Here, argument will be made to understand the point that if law is a veritable instrument of social change or social engineering, then by parity of reasoning, law should be viewed as a critical vehicle for transformation.

This paper posits that indeed law is the most fundamental aspect of the transformation agenda. This is the vision that propelled legal scholarship in NIALS under my watch and again it is to be confirmed whether or not this objective was fully realised.

The law-in-context proposition is also an integral part of the conceptual frame work of this paper. Scholars in NIALS are of the firm view that law is meaningless unless it is situated within the backdrop of circumstances contextually applicable at a given time. Consequently, scholarly exposition and researches have been anchored on this conceptual framework. The major philosophical underpinning of legal research in NIALS in the last five years however is the warm embrace of empirical studies. Thus side by side with doctrinaire scholarly expositions, NIALS has come to perfect the methodology for socio-legal research and has not just built sufficient expertise in forensic empiricism but groomed a crop of legal statisticians.

Tangentially related to this is the recognition of legal pragmatism as the hallmark of contemporary legal scholarship. Students of jurisprudence, indeed disciples of Ronald Dworkin will readily appreciate the deep and penetrating perspective that confers pre-eminence to legal pragmatism over and above conventionalism for as Dworkin posited “ pragmatism tell a more promising story . It points out that strategies for pursuing the general interest that seems obvious in our generation will come to be questioned in another, and so will be changed naturally, from within the judicial process, not outside it.”

In developing some existing postulates in jurisprudence, what NIALS has successfully achieved is ingeniously charting new frontiers and articulating new principles of law that hitherto were never sufficiently interrogated by legal philosophers. That is to the credit of NIALS faculty. I will now proceed to specifically examine issues raised in the conceptual framework

Law and transformation

In the early seventies, Prof. Teslim Olawole Elias produced two masterly books in quick succession. The first, Law and Social Change in Nigeria remains one of his best seminal works while the second, Law in a developing society is till date a classic in all ramification of that expression. The two books essentially addressed the role of law in transforming society. They are relevant to the transformation agenda today as they were in the seventies when Nigeria was going through the process of rehabilitation shortly after the civil war.

Going forward, it is crucial to address the legislative process that translates to statutory enactment. In this regard, attention must be given to policy issues as the foundation for lawmaking. It is not in dispute that since the emergence of President Jonathan, the National Assembly has passed many bills that are undoubtedly transformative.

June 3, 2014
Law institute partners varsity

The Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Cape Town, South Africa, on the teaching of law.

The partnership was endowed by a former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma.

NIALS’ Director-General, Prof. Epiphany Azinge (SAN) praised Dajuma’s philanthropic gesture.

“ General Danjuma by this grant has clearly demonstrated his love for education, his belief in an enduring legacy and his passion to immortalise himself through the instrumentality of this grant

“NIALS is indeed honoured to be part of this ennobling enterprise and wish to pledge its commitment to the judicious and transparent use of the grant.

“We promise to be to accountable and prudent in the management of the funds,” he said.

By virtue of the grant, NIALS can collaborate with the University of Cape Town and share resources.

“We are extremely happy about this new relationship and hope that it is a relationship that will be mutually beneficial to both institutions. We look forward to a robust engagement between our two faculties and promise to live up to expectations of our benefactor, Danjuma,” Azinge said.

On March 17, NIALS celebrated its 35th anniversary, in which it displayed its publications and research undertakings.

The publications have been adjudged as major contributions to legal scholarship.

“That basically is the hallmark of our acclaimed status as the apex legal institution for law and related disciplines in Nigeria.

“We are also very confident of our faculty which undoubtedly is one of the best in Africa.

“We promise to deploy the services of our faculty and indeed the expertise we parade to ensure that the vision that informed the grant to NIALS and the University of Cape Town is fulfilled to the letters

“I want to congratulat both the University of Cape Town and NIALS for this historic and auspicious occasion.

“I pray that in the years to come, we will have course to look back and beat our chest with pride that we were part of this epoch making event.” Azinge said.

May 20, 2014
Courts should carry out substantial justice, says Karibi-Whyte

Retired Supreme Court Justice Adolphus Karibi-Whyte yesterday enjoined courts to “avoid technical justice and do substantial justice”.

Justice Karibi-Whyte delivered a lecture titled ‘’In the Eyes of the Law” at the week-long celebration of the 35th anniversary of the National Institute of Legal Studies (NIALS) in Abuja.

The retired judge said the decision of the Supreme Court on the 1979 presidential election adding that it was “one case that resonated so many years after the decision had been handed down”.

He said two other election petitions decided by the apex court which included the Adamawa and Rivers governorship election of 1999 and 2007 respectively adding that the decisions remained “jurisprudential”.

Justice Karibi-Whyte said: “In Nigeria, we have several notable judicial pronouncements and I chose to discuss three which I consider novel in many respects.

“What is 12 two-third of 19 will continue resonate in this country and beyond; the expanded definition of death in the Adamawa case will remain a challenge to lawyers and medical practitioners.

“And that someone whose name was omitted in election boxes and deprived of standing for election was eventually declared a winner has remained jurisprudential. In the cases analysed, the issue has been whether the courts make or interpret laws.

“It is trite that courts do not make but expound the law and in doing this it is in the interest of justice and fair play to shy away from technicalities,” he said.

He noted that there was a need for words used in decisions to be explicit adding that the rules of interpretation were meant to aid effective creation of statutes.

Also speaking, Prof. Epiphany Azinge, Director-General, NAILS, told reporters that the lecture was a way for stakeholders to share their views and also sensitise the public on decisions of the judiciary.

“It is not often that the public exception of what the judiciary has done seems to be in accord with their expectation but it is not for everybody to interpret the law.

“The decision is vested in the judges so even if they make mistakes in the course of their interpretation, we have to live with such mistakes.

“But in order to make sure mistakes are corrected, we have the hierarchy of the courts.

“We have taken this as an opportunity for them to ventilate their views on this matter and sensitise people.

“They should continue to bear with us and understand that in the course of interpretation there are certain technicalities that must come to mind and the judges are trained to do so.”

The lecture was part of activities to mark the week long 35th Anniversary of the institute.

March 18, 2014
NIALS scores media high

The Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), last week at Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre Abuja, conducted media assessment and the contributions of the media to the achievement of its mandate and the vision of its founding fathers within the 35 years of its existence. This programme was part of a week programme to celebrate the achievements of the institution in the last 35 years of its establishment.

Plaques were given to some media houses in appreciation and recognition of their contributions to the achievement of NIALS mandate. The media houses recognised are: The Nation newspaper, Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Vanguard newspapers, Channels Television and Daily Trust newspaper.

NIALS’ Director-General, Prof. Epiphany Azinge (SAN) expressed gratitude to the media for its support to the Institute and contributions to the course of nation building. He noted that without the active and massive support of the media, the Institute would not have discharged its mandate creditably within the period under review.

He praised the objectivity, investigative and analytical virtues of the media, noting that there is room for improvements.

Introducing the programme, a Research Fellow with the Institute, Laura Ani said: “The Institute is organising a week anniversary celebration to mark its service to scholarship and education in Nigeria. The Institute, more than any institution in the field of law, has contributed to the development of scholarship, education and capacity building for the legal profession in Nigeria, Africa and beyond. Therefore, the Institute has acquitted itself of that mandate and the vision of its founding fathers.”

She continued: “Today’s event is three-fold, firstly we have the social media assessment of NIALS contributions to national development, the purpose of this assessment is to access our media temperature by auditing our social media impact on the society. This will be determined by measuring our growth, engagement, trend awareness, likes and subscribes on the likes of facebook, twitter and of course, our website.

“Most importantly, this will be a highly interactive session where we require contributions from all media houses here present both print, electronic and the general public. At the end we hope to determine where we are, where we want to go and how to achieve this.

“Secondly we would be having the media awards to formally celebrate with our media partners and lastly the public presentation of all NIALS publications as well as a report on our research projects.”

The best supporting electronic media award was given to the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) while the best supporting print media award went to The Nation newspaper. Channels Television received the most friendly media house award while the best supporting law correspondent award went to John Austin Unachukwu of The Nation newspaper.

Vera Chinwuba of the NTA received the most distinguished law personality award while Femi Okeowo also of NTA received the most efficient law journalist award.

Outstsnding NIALS media friends awards went to Adenlanwa Olukorede Bamgboye, Shola Adeko Sholeye and Innocent Chikwaraeze Anaba

The event was attended by former Directors-General of the Institute including, Prof. Ayo Ajomo, Prof. Ignatius Ayua and a host of Professors from the institute and outside the Institute.

March 18, 2014
CJN admits 27 to NIALS post-graduate degrees

THE Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Maryam Aloma Muktar, yesterday admitted 27 persons to the post-graduate degrees of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) during its convocation.

Two persons graduated with Doctors of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Legislative Drafting; 19 persons obtained LL.M in the course, while six persons bagged Post-Graduate Diplomas (PGDLD).

The Institute functions under the general supervision of the Federal Ministry of Justice, while its general policy direction is provided by the governing council chaired by the CJN.

Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke (SAN), urged the graduates to be good ambassadors of NIALS.

“The management has committed itself steadfastly to the task of re-positioning this Institute for not only training skilled and knowledgeable manpower in legislative drafting, but also has made this institution become one of the most valued, not only in Nigeria but on the African continent. I have pledged to commit steadfastly to the task of repositioning the Institute,” he said.

NIALS Director-General, Prof Epiphany Azinge (SAN) who presided over his last convocation, said his administration has “delivered excellently” in all that it set out to achieve.

The introduction of PhD by the Institute was one aspect of our strategic vision that was mired in controversy from the point of conceptualisation. But we were able to convince our hardest critics that our mandate statutorily allows us to pursue a course of study leading to award of post graduate degrees.

“Perhaps our critics were worried that our well endowed faculty may eventually unveil their antics of keeping PhD students for a minimum of 10 years before graduation.

“We have clearly demonstrated that PhD can be earned within three years and still make eloquent and original contribution to knowledge,” Azinge said.

December 8, 2013
How to write legal advice, opinion

The Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) has held its 2013 course for legal advisers and law officers. Writing legal advice and opinion in criminal cases and commercial transactions dominated the discussions, reports JOSEPH JIBUEZE

Nigeria’s criminal justice system is faced with numerous challenges, among which is prison congestion. Many have been in detention for years and are yet to be brought to trial. What could be the reason for this anomaly?

A former Akwa Ibom State Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Chief Harrison Ataide, blamed it on a faulty criminal procedure, beginning with the police – which he said sometimes takes so long to conclude investigations before releasing the case files to the directorates of public prosecution (DPP) for legal advice to be issued.

Sometimes too, the DPP leaves what ought to be done on time undone, he said.

Ataide was one of the resource persons at the Government Legal Advisers and Law Officers Course, organised by the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) in Lagos.

Participants included law officers from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), National Deposit Insurance Cooperation (NDIC), the Federal Character Commission, the Nigeria National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC), the Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Authority, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Supreme Court, among others.

The former DPP delivered a paper on the topic: Writing Legal Opinion and Advice.

“Most problems we have in this country are due to improper advice,” he said.

“What is affecting us in this country is that we leave what should be done in time undone. If legal opinions are given at the proper time, there will be nothing like prison congestion at all.

“But how will the opinion be written when the police will take longer time than necessary to complete their investigation? When they hold onto the case files, there is no way the DPP will be able to write opinion on that.

“Some of the cases that are referred by the Magistrate Courts to the DPP, the case-files are to be transferred by the police to the DPP’s office. That may take months.

“A DPP legal advice can be issued within one week. It is possible. When that is done, all those that were remanded in prison custody and police cells will be released or charged to court and the prisons will be decongested.

“So, it is not doing what we’re supposed to do that has been the cause of the problem of prison congestion.”

Addressing the participants, Ataide said legal advice/opinion writers ensure that they express themselves concisely and coherently, avoid excessively long sentences and use the active rather than the passive voice.

He said all legal opinion must be based on applicable laws, while the writer must be fair. “Anybody who’s writing a legal opinion must be well-versed. If you write based on law, you can damn the consequences.

“Pressure can come from political quarters or from your bosses to write wrong opinion. Avoid political or monetary inducements that can lead you to compromise,” he warned.

“In general, legal opinions/advice must be presented in clear, lucid, plain language to elucidate understanding, with all the material contents thereof.

“It does no one any good to produce a legal opnion/advice that is incorrect and unacceptable. It dents the writer’s image and may go further to cause irreparable damage in event of being used for whatever purpose it was meant for,” he said.

He said legal advice not written objectively could lead to undue detention of suspects in police or remand custody or lead to the release of hardened criminals.

“In other jurisdictions such opinion writers who give incorrect advice may be held liable in damages,” he said.

According to him, legal or opinion writers must avoid long sentences, verbiage – using more words than necessary; double negatives, unfamiliar words, lack of precision and clarity, poor organisation and vague analysis.

“It is not uncommon to see legal opinion that indicates prior knowledge of the applicable laws and stating only the conclusion or resolution of the matter involved on the presumed knowledge of the applicable law. This is wrong.

“A legal opinion that omits the steps necessary in reaching a well-considered conclusion/recommendation fails to serve its purpose,” Ataide said.

He said the writer is expected to proffer an objective analysis of the issues, presenting them in line with legal principles, rules of law and precedents. First, the writer must be clear on the purpose.

“Generally, legal opinion is to determine whether to litigate, prosecute, defend or enter into a transaction on not. It can be compared to feasibility study in business,” he said.

A legal opinion, Ataide said, has a heading, an introduction, facts of the matter, issues, legal provisions, analysis of the factual and legal issues, conclusion/recommendations.

“The primary concern of a legal opinion/advice in criminal prosecution is whether an offender should be prosecuted and for what offence.

“The determining factor is only and only whether a prima facie case (factual and legal grounds for bringing a person to trial) has been made out against the suspect.

“In criminal cases investigated by the police and referred to you for legal opinion, after going through the facts contained in the whole case file, including those from the originating police station, if there are facts that might have been relevant or useful in the prosecution of the matter that have been advertently or inadvertently omitted because of shoddy or incomplete police investigation, and you believe that such facts are crucial to the central legal issue to be resolved, it is your duty to identify such additional information (proof of evidence) and request for same.

“The proper procedure is to return the case file to the police with a letter from the DPP requesting the investigating police officer (IPO) to furnish the office of the DPP with such missing information through further investigation, if that would be necessary.”

Speaking on the topic: Negotiating and Vetting Agreements: Role of the Legal Adviser, former NIALS Director of Research, Prof Bolaji Owasanoye, said negotiation of commercial agreements is linked to economic development.

So, poorly negotiated agreements or poorly implemented agreements stultify development, he said.

“The negotiation process is, therefore, important to development. The negotiation process in international commercial agreements is a mix of legal and political factors.

“The obligations of the parties are established on legal parameters. The reference point between the parties is the agreement which is a legal document,” he said.

Owasanoye said Federal Govermment’s guidelines on negotiations and drafting of agreements recognises the country’s disadvantages vis-à-vis negotiating with transnational corporations.

It advices pre-negotiation steps, which includes preliminary meeting of parties to the contract, determining comparative benefit of the project and considering project capacity and utilisation.

It involves selecting the appropriate technology, determining best sources of funding, establishing availability or otherwise of local capacity, composition of a competent team of not just law officers and knowing the other party, its needs and negotiators.

Research professor at NIALS, Paul Idornigie, said a major decision to be taken in commercial transaction involving overseas firms is whether local or foreign lawyers should be used.

According to him, local law firms need training in the technical aspects of the reform programme.

“It is preferable not to recruit foreign lawyers to draft legislation but the foreign lawyer can give advice and make comments on the draft based on experience from other jurisdictions.

“Globally, it is not uncommon for local and foreign law firms to work together. Local firms contribute their knowledge of the country and legal machinery and business practices while the foreign firm offers its experience with similar operations in other jurisdictions.”

Other speakers included Prof Ademola Popoola, Prof Lanre Fagbohun, Prof Animi Awah, Chief Awa Kalu (SAN), Mrs Joy Bob-Manuel, Dr Abiola Sanni, Dr Adebisi Arewa and Mr Ibisola Ogayemi.

August 6, 2013
Developing free trade zones’ laws

Legal Regime of Free Trade Zones by the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) examines Free trade regime in Nigeria.

In Chapter One entitled: Free Trade Zone: Policies, Principles and Problems by Emmanuel E Okon, the writer examines the legal framework of free trade zones in Nigeria; he notes that statutorily, the term “Free Trade Zone” has no standard definition in all the statutory instruments/laws that establish free trade zones in Nigeria.

He defines and distinguishes between policies and principles in unadorned English as well as the legal status of the terms ‘principles and policy’.

The writer analyses the Nigerian Export Processing Zone Act CAP 107 LFN 2004 and goes further to discuss specific domestic laws on custom issues while discussing perceived issues with various free zone laws in Nigeria, the Kano, Onne/Ikpokiri and Calabar free trade zones are his major focus. The writer discusses the synergy of the policies and principles of free trade zones and its effectiveness including the need to simplify the process for authorization of investments in a free trade zone. The writer concluded and recommended that the policies and principle of the free zone laws contain core investment and international trade principles that will motivate and encourage investors and that to facilitate the success of a free trade zone there is a need to have its policies and principles contain provisions to compel for qualitative and efficient infrastructures alongside incentives aimed at attracting foreign direct investment.

In Chapter Two entitled: Historical Development of Free Trade Zones by Stella-Maris Omo, the writer traces the development of free trade zones and establishes that the first free trade zone was established in Shannon, Clare Ireland in 1930, with about 1735 free zones in 133 countries as at the time of this publication. She goes ahead to give a fairly exhaustive list of some free trade zones across continents, while discussing in brief details the history of the free zones in the United States, Nigeria and China. The writer has given examples of various tax regimes as incentives from a range of countries in Africa and Asia and concludes by suggesting that the government be fully sentient on the costs, benefits or otherwise of the incentives offered to export processing zones, suggesting that it be in tune with the World Trade Organisations rules and timelines on export promotion instruments.

Osatohanmwen Eruaga, in Chapter Three entitled: Free Zone Legislations in Nigeria: An Appraisal has made efforts to examine the Nigerian Export Processing Zone Act (NEPZA) and the Oil and Gas Export Free Zone Authority Act (OGEFZA), comparing similar legislations in other jurisdiction to verify whether the Nigerian legislations are sufficient to drive and regulate the free trade zones successfully. She goes further to give a general idea of prominent legislations on free trade zones in Nigeria pointing out the various similarities in the NEPZA Act and OGEFZA Act whilst emphasizing the dearth of infrastructure and maintenance of existing free trade zones. The writer has made comparisons of the United States Free Trade Zones Act with the Chinese in analysing similar provisions with the Nigerian legislation as regards raw materials and customs territory. She has pointed out that both Nigerian Legislations allow for full foreign ownerships of enterprise within the zones, prohibits industrial actions for a period of 10 years and easing tax burdens as forms incentive in the Nigerian free trade zones, comparing the provisions with that of Dubai and Ghana. The writer concludes by suggesting that there is a need to amend the relevant provisions of the NEPZA and the OGEFZA to aid the proper functioning of the zones, though particular sections were not stated as recommended for amendments. She has also mentioned bills to repeal the legislations which are pending before the National Assembly.

In Chapter Four: Nigerian Export Processing Zone Authority: A Critique by Enuma Muoneke, the writer relates the reasons for the establishment of the Nigerian Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA) in 1991, states its functions and a brief overview of free zones in Nigeria, such as the Calabar Free Trade Zone, Snake Island Free Trade Zone, Tinapa Free Trade Zone and Business Resort. She goes ahead to give a schedule list of free zones in Nigeria and their locations ownership and functionality thus: of the 25 free zones in the country, 11 are functional, nine are under construction and five have been declared. The writer talked about the permissible activities in the zones and investment incentives, she went further to assess the achievements of NEPZA in line with its mission such as job creation, revenue generation, and developments of some infrastructure as a plus to the free zone scheme, she focused on the Calabar and Lekki free trade zones in providing facts and figures. The writer identified technical know-how, inefficiency in implementation, corruption, lack of funding among others as the challenges faced by the NEPZA. She has suggested some ways forward and concludes by insisting on implementation of NEPZAs proposals and the need for all stakeholders to drive the agency to its desired end.

The writer, Nkechi Quintine-Amiator in Chapter Five entitled: Free Trade Zone Incentives: An Analysis, assesses the concept of incentives in free zones and states that the purpose of incentives in free trade zones is to remove barriers and red tapes for foreign investors. She listed tax exemptions, land allocation, remittance of profits, and grants amongst others as various incentives in free trade zones in general and listed some more peculiar to Nigeria. The writer states that the rationale for incentives is based on economic principles for the enhancement of growth and development of a particular sector in an economy. Case studies were carried out on china and Singapore, and some arguments made for and against establishment of free trade zones. In conclusion, she has suggested that existing legislations be tailor made to suit each free trade zone as no two zones are the same and different incentives would apply to them.

In Chapter Six: Free Trade Zones and Investment by Paul Obo Idornigie, the writer starts by discussing the barriers to free flow of goods and services, which include quota, tariff and non-tariff barriers. He has discussed the benefits of a free trade zone and the Nigerian Export Processing Zones, noting that the regulatory regime in the Export Processing Zones in Nigeria is liberal and provides a conducive environment for profitable operations. The writer discussed the investment opportunities in Nigeria and concluded by suggesting that domestic investors be encouraged to invest in free trade zones alongside the foreign investors to provide for a level playing field, this way the foreign investors would not suffocate the domestic investors.

Suzie Onyeka Ofuani in her chapter: Free Trade Zones and Corporate Governance in Nigeria discusses corporate governance in the light of the free trade zones, the need to increase shareholder value and meeting the expectations of other stakeholders because it is in the interest of the stakeholders of an organisation to maximise profit in line with standard best corporate practices. She discussed the application of the corporate governance codes in free trade zones, citing banking operations in the zones and customs territory as being governed by the CBN Code with no distinction as examples. She lists and discussed several principles of corporate governance, and concluded by encouraging companies in the free zones to adopt corporate governance principles so as to ensure that the aims and objectives of the zones in promoting trade and development are achieved.

In Chapter Eight: Legislative Framework of Export Processing Zones written by Uchechukwu Ngwaba, the writer started with a brief history of export processing zones and its development, he analyzed the free trade zone legislations and the legal frame work of the zones in Nigeria. The writers examined the legal framework of the export processing zones in Nigeria.

In Chapter Nine entitled: Free Trade Zone and Industrialisation, Ona Osanakpo discussed briefly the industrialization and trade policy in Nigeria, trade liberalisation, the protectionist theory and free trade. She went further to discuss the structure, operation and impact of free trade zones. She noted that a free trade zone cannot by itself facilitate the desired industrialisation of any state, but with other forms of trade liberalisation a state can achieve industrialisation.

Adejoke Adediran in Export Free Zone and National Transformation gives a brief history of export free zones and the features, she discusses and analyses duty – free import of goods and tax exemption and flexibility of labour laws and compared the laws of various countries. The writer has given a description of national transformation in Nigeria and traced the various national transformation policies in at one point or the other in Nigeria’s history. She also discusses the economic effects and the benefits of an export processing zone.

In Chapter 11: A Critical Appraisal of the Monitoring and Regulation of Export Processing Zones in Nigeria, by Anele Kalu Kingsley, the writer gives a brief background and importance of the export processing zones. He further examines the enforcement of the Export Processing Zones Legislations as regards monitoring and regulation. The writer has critically evaluated the Export Processing Zones Act 2004 and has noted that there is an implied legislative restriction on unionisation, which makes regulation and monitoring of activities non-existent. In his recommendations he suggested that there is a need to review the existing legislations and reassess the policy strategy of the zones.

Ogochukwu Mgbakogu in her chapter entitled: Free Trade Zones in Nigeria and Employment Generation, defined and gave various characteristics of free trade zones. She analysed foreign direct investment and its impact on employment and noted that employment generation is a major means of poverty alleviation. The writer did not discuss and provide the reader with information of the figures on job creations and the attendant effects on the Nigerian economy.

In Chapter 13 entitled: Fund of Free Trade Zones by Emeka Odum, the writer gives a brief history of the free zones, and discusses various grants available to businesses in free trade zones such as small business grants and foreign and export promotion market development grants.

He notes the sources of funds available for free trade zones to access and public-private partnerships. He went further to discuss foreign direct investments and local input. He uses America as a focal point and noted that funding in Nigeria is nowhere compared to that of developed countries. He suggestes the development of more public private partnerships in other to fund and boost free trade zones in Nigeria

Also in Chapter 14: Territoriality and Legal Regime of Free Zones by Chukwuemeka Castro Nwabuzor, the writer gives a history and concept of regulatory legislations in Nigeria; he noted that a free trade zone is conferred with ex-territorial status and discussed job creation, increase in foreign currency earnings among others, as reasons for the status. He further discusses arguments against the ex-territorial concept of free zones. He further discusses right of entry into Nigerian free zones and adoption of best practices in free zones.

T.I. Iber in Labour Relations and Trade Disputes in Free Trade Zones defines labour standards and labour relations. The writer establishes that there are three actors in labour relations, usually the state, employers and workers’ representatives such as trade unions and labour federations. He further states that labour laws applicable to the zones would depend on if the laws allow for the domestic laws to apply to the free trade zones. He discusses the Labour Laws of various countries, such as Singapore, Mauritius, countries in the Caribbean; Saint Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, Jamaica, among others, crossing over to the Philippines, Sri Lanka, countries in the Americas and Nigeria.

He concludes by suggesting that peace and stability are necessary to attract the expected foreign investments in Free Trade Zones.

May 7, 2013
Stakeholders canvass air safety, climate change factors

Stakeholders and participants in a training workshop on Aviation and Space Law, organised by the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), have called for capacity building, focus on climate change issues as it relates to the aviation sector and improved adjudication processes.

The Director-General, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), Prof. Epiphany Azinge (SAN) said: “ Aviation and Space law is emerging in Nigeria, that does not mean it is new globally but it could appear that we are not taking the appropriate interest that we ought to take over a period of time, the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife is obviously leading capacity building in that direction at the Master of Laws (LL.M) level and we feel it is only those who are privileged to secure admission to do a LL.M degree programme find themselves availing that opportunity to themselves and to other people, but here at the institute, we feel that it is more important that we open up the door for people to come in with the rudiments and the technicalities of the aviation and space industry operation and that is exactly what we are doing now. We have just finished a roundtable on the subject just last week and we are now mounting this workshop.

We are happy that we have an array of experts from diverse areas of the industry who are here to internalise some of the technicalities and the necessary rudiments for appreciating the problems in the aviation industry, the issue of compensation for victims of aviation crash, the issue of loss of luggage, delay in flight operations, over boarding and other technicalities that affect safety in aviation and the issue of space development.

“Basically, we feel this is the right time and we are happy that government seems to be doing well at this same time in trying to build up infrastructure at our various airports. That will obviously work in tandem with what we are doing, so that it will form the basis for the transformation agenda, so that lawyers in the various sectors will come to terms with the capacity building that we have introduced and will benefit from it immeasurably,” he said.

“The workshop will also impact positively, one thing is to develop the airports, another is for people to also understand the limits of the use of the airports, who can come into the airports and who cannot and what are the terms and conditions for you to utilise the airports. If you are a passenger, what are your rights and privileges and what are the obligations involved in this, there are so many other challenges involved in this.

Again it is important that because we have remodelled the airports and the airports stand up to compete with some other international airports, it is possible for people to now aggregate their rights in the sense that you can now know where you are moving in from, where you are checking in, where you are coming out from, the issue of the Carsol, where your luggages will come out from, where you are flying to, is there anything published to that effect, if you fail to know that your flight is boarding, is there anything you can do about it and so on.

“Obviously, the remodelling of the airports will have a lot to do with the rights, duties and obligations of the passengers and vice- versa. To that extent, I believe it is time for us to understand some of the issues of liability, the issue of compensation and the issue of exactly knowing that it may not necessarily be the fault of the airline operators that certain things have transpired.

All together, there seems to be a lot that seems to be emerging, we are talking of practical realities that are with us, it is not just a matter of academic proposition and conjecturing. So, on the whole, a lot can be garnered from this workshop and more importantly, the people who are stakeholders in the field are also being educated to build up their own capacity so that they will be in a better position to offer genuine and informed advice to government and to their various agencies

In his keynote address, the Acting Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCSS) canvassed eight critical elements of aviation safety as follows:

•Primary Aviation Legislation involves the provision of a comprehensive and effective aviation law consistent with the environment and complexity of the State’s aviation activity and compliant with the requirements contained in the Chicago Convention of 1945 on International Civil Aviation. The Nigeria Civil Aviation Act 2006 meets this element.

•Specific Operating Regulations is the provision of adequate Regulations, orders, rules or advisory circulars to address, at the minimum, national requirements emanating from the primary legislation and providing for standardized operational procedures, equipment and infrastructure{including safety management and training systems), in conformance with the Standards And Recommended Practices (SARPs) contained in the Annexes to the Chicago Convention. Nigeria Civil Aviation

Regulations Vol. I (2009) and Vol. II (2012) are models.

•State Civil Aviation System/Safety Oversight functions is the establishment of a safety oversight responsible entity e.g. a Civil aviation Authority (CAA) headed by a CEO, supported by appropriate and adequate technical and non-technical staff and provided with adequate financial resources. The state must have stated safety regulatory functions, objectives and safety policies. See Sections 2, 8, 12, 30 etc of CAA 2006.

•Technical Personnel Qualification and Training involves the establishment of minimum knowledge and experience requirement for the technical personnel performing safety oversight functions and the provision of appropriate training to maintain and enhance their competence at the desired level. The training should include initial and recurrent training.

•Technical Guidance, Tools and the provision of Safety critical information.

The provision of TG (including processes and procedures), tools {including facilities and equipments) and safety critical information as applicable to the technical personnel to enable them to perform their safety oversight functions in accordance with established requirement and in a standardize., manner. It also includes the provision of technical guidance by the CAA to the aviation industry on the implementation of applicable regulations and instructions.

•Licensing, Certification, Authorization and Approval Obligations is the implementation of processes and procedures to ensure the personnel and organizations performing an aviation activity meet the established requirements before they are allowed to exercise the privileges of a license, certificate, authorization and/or approval to conduct the relevant aviation activity.

•Surveillance Obligations is the implementation of process, such as inspection and audits, to proactively ensure that aviation license, certificate, authorization and/or approval holders continue to meet the established requirements and function at the level of competency and safety required by the state to undertake an aviation related activity for which they have been licensed, certified, authorized and/or approved to perform. This includes the surveillance of designated personnel who perform safety oversight functions on behalf of CAA.

•Resolution of Safety Concerns is the implementation of processes and procedures to resolve identified deficiencies impacting aviation safety, which may have been residing in the aviation system and have been detected by the regulatory authority. This would include the ability to analyze safety deficiencies, forward recommendations, support the resolution of identified deficiencies, as well as take enforcement action when appropriate.

ICAO Universal Safety Audit, FAA Category 1 Certification and ICAO Security Audit are some of the evaluation the Nigerian Aviation Industry had successfully undergone by strict compliance with the CE. It is important to state here that the primary responsibility for the conduct of safe flight operations rest on the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) holder. The Federal Government through the NCAA has put in place layers of processes to ensure that the AOC holder conduct its operation in line with extant civil aviation laws and regulations

Prof. Lanre Fagbohun, a professor of Environmental Law said: “ There are three critical areas that we can look at when we are looking at the environment and aviation. The emphasis will come in the area of air quality, noise pollution and climate change. When you look at air pollution and noise pollution, you will find out that to a very large extent, because it has been on the front burner in the last 20 to 25 years, that has been taken care of and a lot has gone into the design of aircrafts such that it has reduced the pollution in terms of noise, in terms of the way the exhaust pollutes the airspace. But in the area of climate change, you still see that there is a lot to be done because that has not been in the mind of those who are working on various regulations until of recent, when climate change issues came to the fore and you are looking specifically at the problems of green gases and when you say green house gases in terms of climate change, you are not just looking of the aircraft, your also looking at the various infrastructure that they use on ground because their fuel depots on ground, their other service equipment that they use on ground, they emit a lot in terms of green house gases. This is the area where regulation is going into now and you will find out that there is a critical element that is used in area of climate change at the moment and that is economic instrument, there is a problem when you are talking about economic instrument and the aviation industry.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is looking at an environment like that of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), it is a free environment for people to transact their business whereas you will find out that what the UNFCC Convention is looking at is in terms of the different responsibilities of developing countries vis-avis- developed countries, so you see a difference in the way they are looking at charges and the way they are looking at taxes. Taxes is just something that can effectively be used in the aviation industry for fuel, for such other things like equipment, but charges is one way in which they are now coming in to say how do we continue to maintain our environment in terms of the charges that are placed on the aircraft. So, the area where Nigeria could be keeping its focus now is in the area of climate change and the contribution of the aviation industry to climate change issues.

Fielding questions on the role of the courts in adjudicating and resolution of aviation disputes and cases, Dr. Chinyere Ani said: “ Really, the courts involved in the adjudication of aviation disputes is the Federal High Court, that is the Court , Section 251 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria vests the jurisdiction in any matter concerning aviation, maritime and so on on the Federal High Court. Also, the Federal High Court Act, also vests that jurisdiction on the Federal High Court. Invariably, that Court has a lot of roles to play as far as aviation is concerned.

“However, the Court cannot act suo motu, aggrieved parties and agencies have to approach the court for desired reliefs through their motions and required processes. When the matter gets to the Court, it is left for the court to dispense with it and provide adequate compensation for the parties based on our extant laws and the other international instruments to which Nigeria is a signatory. Such international conventions includes: The Warsaw Convention, the Montreal Convention, the Chicago Convention and a host of other such other Conventions that Nigeria is privy to and down here in Nigeria, we have a lot of domestic laws on aviation and terrorism, it is the duty of the court to administer those laws and ensure that they are complied with and when they are breached, the court should give adequate sentences,” she said.

May 7, 2013